Synthetic rewriting of the IGH locus

  • Cell Genom. 2026 Jun 10;6(6):101252. doi: 10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101252.
Zong-Heng Fu  1 ,  Yuan Ma  1 ,  Si Cheng  1 ,  Yuan Zhong  1 ,  Nan Wang  1 ,  Zhaoqing Ba  2 ,  Guang-Rong Zhao  3 ,  Yi Wu  4
Affiliations
  • 1. State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
  • 2. National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing 102206, China; Tsinghua Institute of Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
  • 3. State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 4. State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology (Ministry of Education), School of Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 42155442 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101252
Abstract

V(D)J recombination, which joins V, D, and J genes across immunoglobulin loci, is essential for antibody diversity. To unlock the inherent constraints of V(D)J recombination, we systematically designed, assembled, and shuffled a synthetic human immunoglobulin heavy chain locus (SynIgh). SynIgh was designed de novo, incorporating 60 VH, 31 D, and 13 JH from global populations, along with 63 synthetic rearrangement sites, endowing it with modularity, extensibility, and dynamicity. We then synthesized the repetitive SynIgh sequence with a stabilizer. Using this construct, we generated a SynIgh mouse model capable of undergoing V(D)J recombination. Moreover, we demonstrated that a dual-rearrangement strategy, combining synthetic rearrangement with natural V(D)J recombination, enables shuffling of the SynIgh locus in mice. This strategy expands the diversity of V(D)J recombination outcomes, thereby reconfiguring the process of antibody diversity generation. SynIgh establishes a generalizable framework for the design, building, testing, and learning of mammalian genome architecture and function.

Keywords
V(D)J recombination; genome engineering; synthetic biology; synthetic genomics.
Products